“Pay money to retain players who can play the full season” - Former cricketer’s brutal statement after LSG vs SRH IPL 2025 match

Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif criticized the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for their retention and auction strategies after their elimination from the IPL 2025 playoff race with a six-wicket defeat to the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Monday, May 19. The defeat was LSG's seventh in 12 matches and a fourth consecutive after a solid start to the season.

The franchise made several huge retentions of bowlers - Mohsin Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, and Ravi Bishnoi pre-auction. They also invested heavily in the pace duo of Avesh Khan and Akash Deep at the auction.

Yet, Akash Deep (5 games), Mayank Yadav (2 games), and Mohsin Khan (out for the entire season) have missed a significant amount of the season due to injury.

Talking about LSG's pre-season plans after their playoff elimination, Kaif said (via India Today):

"I would rather pay money to retain players who can play the full season. LSG's entire bowling attack is injury-prone. I’m not saying injuries don’t happen, but for players who are more susceptible to them — stop retaining them for big money. Instead, pick them up at the auction."

It was LSG's second consecutive first-round exit after qualifying for the playoffs in their first two seasons in 2022 and 2023.

"We knew a lot of gaps were there because of injuries" - Rishabh Pant on LSG's IPL 2025 campaign

LSG skipper Rishabh Pant felt injuries to key players throughout the season spoiled the side's chances of advancing in IPL 2025. Pant made history by becoming the most expensive buy in IPL history at ₹27 crores at the 2025 IPL auction.

However, the southpaw has failed miserably with only 135 runs in 12 matches at an average of 12.27 and a strike rate of 100.

Reflecting on LSG's early exit in the post-match presentation of the SRH clash, Pant said (via ESPN Cricinfo):

"It couldn't be the best season for us. Getting into the tournament we knew a lot of gaps were there because of injuries. We decided we won't talk about that, but it became difficult to close out those gaps. The way we planned the auction, if we had the same bowling [attack], the story would be different."

With a rebuild in mind for the 2026 season, LSG will look to explore different options in their final two league stage games against the Gujarat Titans (GT) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on May 22 and May 27.